23届翻译大赛英译汉范文及中文译.doc

英译汉原文：Are We There Yet?Americas recovery will be much slower than that from most recessions; but the government can help a bit.“WHITHER goest thou, America?” That question, posed by Jack Kerouac on behalf of the Beat generation half a century ago, is the biggest uncertainty hanging over the world economy. And it reflects the foremost worry for American voters, who go to the polls for the congressional mid-term elections on November 2nd with the countrys unemployment rate stubbornly stuck at nearly one in ten. They should prepare themselves for a long, hard ride.The most wrenching recession since the 1930s ended a year ago. But the recoverynone too powerful to begin withslowed sharply earlier this year. GDP grew by a feeble 1.6% at an annual pace in the second quarter, and seems to have been stuck somewhere similar since. The housing market slumped after temporary tax incentives to buy a home expired. So few private jobs were being created that unemployment looked more likely to rise than fall. Fears grew over the summer that if this deceleration continued, Americas economy would slip back into recession.Fortunately, those worries now seem exaggerated. Part of the weakness of second-quarter GDP was probably because of a temporary surge in imports from China. The latest statistics, from reasonably good retail sales in August to falling claims for unemployment benefits, point to an economy that, though still weak, is not slumping further. And history suggests that although nascent recoveries often wobble for a quarter or two, they rarely relapse into recession. For now, it is most likely that Americas economy will crawl along with growth at perhaps 2.5%: above stall speed, but far too slow to make much difference to the jobless rate.Why, given that America usually rebounds from recession, are the prospects so bleak? Thats because most past recessions have been caused by tight monetary policy. When policy is loosened, demand rebounds. This recession was the result of a financial crisis. Recoveries after financial crises are normally weak and slow as banking systems are repaired and balance-sheets rebuilt. Typically, this period of debt reduction lasts around seven years, which means America would emerge from it in 2014. By some measures, households are reducing their debt burdens unusually fast, but even optimistic seers do not think the process is much more than half over.Battling on the busAmericas biggest problem is that its politicians have yet to acknowledge that the economy is in for such a long, slow haul, let alone prepare for the consequences. A few brave officials are beginning to sound warnings that the jobless rate is likely to “stay high”. But the political debate is more about assigning blame for the recession than about suggesting imaginative ways to give more oomph to the recovery.Republicans argue that Barack Obamas shift towards “big government” explains the economys weakness, and that high unemployment is proof that fiscal stimulus was a bad idea. In fact, most of the growth in government to date has been temporary and unavoidable; the longer-run growth in government is more modest, and reflects the policies of both Mr Obama and his predecessor. And the notion that high joblessness “proves” that stimulus failed is simply wrong. The mechanics of a financial bust suggest that without a fiscal boost the recession would have been much worse.Democrats have their own class-warfare version of the blame game, in which Wall Streets excesses caused the problem and higher taxes on high-earners are part of the solution. That is why Mr. Obamas legislative priority before the mid-terms is to ensure that the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year for households earning more than $250,000 but are extended for everyone else.This takes an unnecessary risk with the short-term recovery. Americas experience in 1937 and Japans in 1997 are powerful evidence that ill-timed tax rises can tip weak economies back into recession. Higher taxes at the top, along with the waning of fiscal stimulus and belt-tightening by the states, will make a weak growth rate weaker still. Less noticed is that Mr. Obamas fiscal plan will also worsen the medium-term budget mess, by making tax cuts for the middle class permanent.Ways to overhaul the engineIn an ideal world America would commit itself now to the medium-term tax reforms and spending cuts needed to get a grip on the budget, while leaving room to keep fiscal policy loose for the moment. But in febrile, partisan Washington that is a pipe-dream. Todays goals can only be more modest: to nurture the weak economy, minimize uncertainty and prepare the ground for tomorrows fiscal debate. To that end, Congress ought to extend all the Bush tax cuts until 2013. Then they should all expireprompting a serious fiscal overhaul, at a time when the economy is stronger.A broader set of policies could help to work off the hangover faster. One priority is to encourage more write-downs of mortgage debt. Almost a quarter of all Americans with mortgages owe more than their houses are worth. Until that changes the vicious cycle of rising foreclosures and falling prices will continue. There are plenty of ideas on offer, from changing the bankruptcy law so that judges can restructure mortgage debt to empowering special trustees to write down loans. They all have drawbacks, but a fetid pool of underwater mortgages will, much like Japans loans to zombie firms, corrode the financial system and harm the recovery.Cleaning up the housing market would help cut Americas unemployment rate, by making it easier for people to move to where jobs are. But more must be done to stop high joblessness becoming entrenched. Payroll-tax cuts and credits to reduce the cost of hiring would help. (The health-care reform, alas, does the opposite, at least for small businesses.) Politicians will also have to think harder about training schemes, because some workers lack the skills that new jobs require.Americans are used to great distances. The sooner they, and their politicians, accept that the road to recovery will be a long one, the faster they will get there.译文：我们到达目的地了吗？与大多数衰退之后的复苏相比，这次美国经济的复苏会慢得多。不过政府还是可以有些许作为的。“美国，你将去往何方？”半个世纪前，杰克凯鲁亚克代表垮掉的一代提出了这个问题。它表明了当今世界经济的最不确定性，也反映了美国选民们的最大担忧。11月2日选民们要去投票站进行国会中期选举投票，而此时美国的失业率顽固地保持在将近十分之一上。摆在他们面前的将是一次漫长而艰难的跋涉，对此他们应该有所准备。20世纪30年代以来最让人揪心的一次经济衰退于一年前结束。可是，一开始就不太强劲的复苏于今年早些时候急速放缓。今年第二季度国内生产总值同比只增长了可怜巴巴的1.6，而且此后似乎就停留在这一速度上下了。房市也随着买房临时税收优惠政策的过期而暴跌。私营企业创造的就业机会太少，失业率很可能不降反升。整个夏天人们越来越担心，如果此次减速持续下去，美国经济将重陷衰退。幸好，这些担心现在看来是被夸大了。第二季度国内生产总值增长较弱的部分原因可能是从中国的进口临时激增所致。最新的统计数据从八月份相当不错的零售业绩到领取失业救济金人数的下降表明，虽然经济仍然疲弱，但已经不再继续下滑。而历史经验表明，初期一两个季度的恢复往往是处于摆动状态，但很少重新陷入衰退。目前看来，美国经济最有可能将以约2.5的增速缓慢爬行不再停滞，但要明显降低失业率，这样的增速显得太慢。既然美国经济通常都会从衰退中反弹，那么这次的前景为什么又是如此黯淡？这是因为以前的大多数经济衰退都是由从紧的货币政策造成的。一旦政策松动，需求就会反弹。而此次衰退是由金融危机引发的。金融危机之后的恢复通常缓慢、疲弱，因为银行系统需要修复、资产负债表需要重建。通常情况下，减债期要持续七年左右。这意味着美国将在2014年走出减债期。家家户户都在采取措施非常快地减少债务负担，但是，即使乐观的预言家也认为这一过程还远未过半。旅途对决美国最大的问题是，政治家们还不承认其经济正处于一个漫长而缓慢的恢复期，更不用说对其后果有所准备了。一些勇敢的官员已经开始警告说，失业率很可能“居高不下”。但是，政治辩论更多的还是纠缠于为经济衰退诘责，而不是提出有建设性的办法来给经济的恢复增加活力。共和党人称，经济疲软的原因是巴拉克奥巴马要推行“大政府”，而高失业率证明了财政刺激是一个糟糕的主意。事实上，迄今为止，大部分的政府开支增长都是暂时性的、不可避免的；政府开支的长期性增长还是比较温和、适度的，这反映了奥巴马及其前任的政策。那种认为高失业率“证明了”刺激是失败的观念是完全错误的。金融萧条的规律表明，如果没有财政刺激，经济衰退会更加严重。对于是非曲直，民主党人有自己的论调。他们认为是华尔街的无度贪婪导致了这场危机；其解决方案就包括对高收入者征收高额税金。中期选举前奥巴马的立法工作重点是务必使年收入超过25万美元的家庭不再享受布什政府的减税政策，而该政策对其他人继续有效，其原因就在于此。对于短期复苏来说，这是在冒不必要的风险。1937的美国和1997的日本都强有力地证明，不合时宜的增税会使疲软的经济重新陷入衰退。高税赋外加逐渐减弱的财政刺激和州政府的紧缩政策将使本来就微弱的增速变得更加缓慢。很少有人注意到，奥巴马先生为中产阶级永久减税的财政计划也将使混乱的中期预算变得更加严峻。如何检修引擎理想情况下，为了控制预算，美国现在应致力于中期税制改革和削减开支，同时又要留有余地，暂时维持宽松的财政政策。然而，在党争激烈的华盛顿，这只能是空想。眼下的目标只能是保守一些：呵护疲软的经济、最大限度地减少不确定性以及为下一轮的财政辩论做准备。为此，国会应该将布什政府的全部减税政策延续到2013年。到那时，趁经济比现在强劲时，减税政策应全部失效。此时，美国的财政政策也需要认真地做一次大调整了。实行一套更宽泛的政策有助于快速解决遗留问题。其中的一个重点就是要进一步鼓励减免抵押贷款债务。在全部有抵押贷款的美国人当中，差不多有四分之一的人欠债超过了他们的房产价值。在此情况改变之前，越来越多的回赎权被取消和价格下跌的恶性循环将继续下去。解决的办法有很多，包括修改破产法，从而允许法官调整抵押贷款债务数额，以及授权特别受托人减免还款额等。这些办法都有缺点，但是，与日本的僵尸企业贷款一样，价值缩了水的抵押物如同一潭臭水，会腐蚀金融体系，危害经济复苏。清理房市会降低人们搬家寻找工作的难度，因而有助于降低美国的失业率。但要防止失业率长期居高不下，还有好多事情要做。减免工资税能够降低雇佣成本，从而有助于减少失业。（可惜，医疗改革的影响恰恰相反至少对小企业而言如是。）政治家们还需要认真考虑培训方案，因为有些劳动者缺乏新工作所需要的技能。美国人早已习惯了长途跋涉。眼前的复苏之路是漫长的，美国人及其政治家们越早承认这一点，就能越快地到达目的地。汉译英：摩天大楼指数如影随形的经济危机作为一种以巨大的经济力量为支撑的建筑物，摩天大楼常被民众和政客视为展示经济繁荣、社会进步的标志。有些经济学家则持完全相反的看法，认为摩天大楼的出现，特别是摩天大楼的纪录被刷新，往往预示着经济即将衰退。“高楼建成之日，即是市场衰退之时”，这是德意志银行的证券分析师安德鲁劳伦斯于1999年发表的判言。2006年2月15日，雷曼兄弟公司在北京召开全球经济会议，其全球首席经济学家卢埃林向我国客户提及“摩天大楼指数”的预言：“如果全球有发生经济危机的可能性，那很可能会在2007年或2008年。”雷曼的首席经济学家预见了2007年到2008年的经济危机，但却不曾想到，雷曼的百年基业正是在这场危机中化为泡影。对于经济而言，摩天大楼是荣耀还是诅咒？其与经济危机之间是否真的存在这样密切的联系呢？1999年，安德鲁劳伦斯经过研究验证了摩天大楼与经济危机的关联，并将这种关联称为“摩天大楼指数”。每一幢刷新世界纪录的摩天大楼的崛起，往往都伴随着经济的衰退。自20世纪初以来，全球共出现了四轮摩天大楼热，而每一次，都伴随着经济危机或金融动荡。20世纪20年代，美国经济转好，证券市场再度空前繁荣，民用、商用房产建设高歌猛进。这期间，三座刷新纪录的摩天大楼先后兴建。纽约的华尔街40号、克莱斯勒大厦和帝国大厦相继于1929年至1931年的三年中落成，但随之而来的不是新的繁荣，而是空前的大萧条。在经历了被美国人称之为“黄金时代”的20世纪60年代强劲、持续的经济繁荣后，纽约的世贸中心和芝加哥的西尔斯大厦开始兴建。1972年和1974年，两座再次刷新世界纪录的摩天大楼相继落成，随后，全球经济发生了严重滞胀。摩天大楼与经济危机的关联如此密切，很难用巧合来理解，那么究竟是什么原因让经济危机总是与摩天大楼如影随形呢？首先，人性使然。人性当中有盲目自信的一面。具体体现在对客观事物认识不足，偏执于对事物的主观看法上。劳伦斯把他发现的经济危机与摩天大楼的联系称为“百年病态关联”，但此类现象，在人类社会中又何止只存在了百年。以史为鉴，我们不难发现，在我国历史的长河中，此类现象早有体现。商朝兴盛时，纣王兴建造鹿台，引得民怨四起最终于鹿台自焚；清代鼎盛时，乾隆帝大举修建园林，导致国力衰落最终丧权辱国。其次，利益推动。在商业行为中，逐利是前提条件。在经济繁荣之前，通常有一个低利率的过程，这也是经济向繁荣周期转化的一个先决条件。而在经济繁荣的过程中，利率相对于人们对于未来收益的预期来说，一直都是低的。所以，就会产生一系列的利益传导途径，也就是前面所提到的利益链条。经济的繁荣和相对较低的利率，对土地价值和资本成本有着直接的影响。在土地价格、企业需求和资金支撑三个因素所构成的利益链的作用下，可以刷新世界纪录的摩天大楼计划，就应运而生了。就像日有昼夜、季有冬夏一样，经济也是存在景气周期的。任何商品的价格，都会受到供需关系的影响。否极泰来，盛极而衰，低廉的利率、膨胀的需求、上涨的资本价格，以及大多数人盲目乐观的心态，所集合产生的“黄金状态”构成了摩天大楼的需求，但这种状态是不可持续的。所以，通常是在经济已经步入衰退的时候，摩天大楼才刚刚竣工；在它真正投入使用的时候，经济很可能已经深陷困境。这就导致了经济危机总是与摩天大楼的兴建如影随形，也常使全球第一建筑成为逝去繁荣的纪念碑。参考译文：The Index of Skyscrapers- A Shadow of Economic CrisisSkyscrapers, which are based on the huge financial foundation, are usually regarded as the sign of the economic prosperity and social progress by the public and the politicians. However, some economists hold an opposite opinion that the appearance of skyscrapers, especially the fact that the world record of skyscrapers height has been repeatedly broken, often predicts the economy is about to decline.“The day a new skyscraper is finished is the time the market begins to decline.” Andrew Laurence, a security analyst of the Deutsche Bank, declared in 1999. On February 15th, 2006, Lahman Brothers hosted a Global Economy Conference in Beijing, on which Lewellen, its chief global economist, made a prediction which was based on the so-called “the index of skyscrapers” for its Chinese clients注意“我国客户”的翻译, and said that if there is a probability of global economic crisis, it may happen in 2007 or 2008. Though the chief economist of Lahman successfully predicted the economic crisis which lasted from 2007 to 2008, he never thought that the centennial legacy of Lahman collapsed in the crisis. Are Skyscrapers an honor or a curse for the market? Is there any close relation between skyscraper and economic crisis?In 1999, Andrew Lawrence made a research which confirmed the connection between the skyscrapers and the economic crisis, which he called “the index of skyscrapers”. Every time when there is a record-broken skyscraper setting up, there would be an economic recession. From the beginning of the 20th century, across the world there have been four rounds of Skyscrapers Fevers, each of which was followed by economic crisis or financial unrest. In 1920s, American economy began to recover. The stock market witnessed an unprecedented prosperity, and the residential and commercial real estate celebrated the great leap. During this period, three skyscrapers, including Trump Tower从网络上可以很容易地查到“华尔街40号”的正式名称, Chrysler Building and Empire State Building, were built up successively from 1929 to 1930, which, however, was followed not by a new prosperity but the Great Depression. The 1960s was called “the Golden Age by Americans because of the strong and constant economic prosperity. At the end of the Golden Age, New Yorks World Trade Center and Chicagos Sears Tower were started to build. The two buildings which broke the world record successively were set up in 1972 and 1974 respectively. After that, there was a serious global economy stagnation. The relationship between skyscraper and economic crisis is so close that it is hard to consider it coincidence. What is it that makes skyscrapers a shadow of economic crisis?The first factor is human nature. Blind confidence, which is part of human nature, was expressed by his inadequate knowledge of objective facts and bigotry in his subjective understandings.借鉴了“王芳王叶王曦云”的翻译 Lawrence called the relationship between economic crisis and skyscrapers “a Century-old Sick Relevance借鉴了“史歌刘琴苏天安”的翻译. However, it has been in existence for far more than one hundred years. Learning from the history, we find the similar phenomena in very early times of our long history. For example, at the prosperity period of Shang Dynasty (B.C. 1600-B.C. 1046), King Zhou, the last king of Shang Dynasty, ordered to built a palace called Lutai, which irritate people to rise in revolt and overturn his regime. Finally he had no choice but to set fire to the Lutai and burned himself to death. In Qing Dynasty (1636-1911), Emperor Qianlong built gardens on a large scale, reducing the national power remarkably, and finally leading to national humiliation and betrayal of the sovereignty后面部分借鉴了“徐磊孟祥磊李志”和“程珊珊郑琦静康亚”的翻译.The second factor is the profit-